The Press Complaints Commission issued more than 100 warnings to the media over harassment last year – up from 69 in 2009 – according to the body's annual report published on Tuesday.

The newspaper industry's self-regulatory body received "well over" 7,000 complaints from celebrities and members of the public last year – down from a record 37,000 complaints in 2009, fuelled by Jan Moir's controversial Daily Mail article about the death of Stephen Gately. There was a slight increase of complaints "with merit", from 738 to 750.

In its annual report the PCC said that it "amicably settled" 544 complaints in 2010 – down from 609 successfully resolved complaints in 2009.

Buscombe said in the annual report: "We are heartened by regular feedback that shows that the work we do is valuable and valued. I hope we can increase understanding of the PCC to match the impressive level of awareness and I hope the PCC's recent advertising campaign will enable more people to use and benefit from our service.

"Amid all the talk of superinjunctions and the peril they pose to freedom of expression, we should remember that ... we are more active than judges in defending people's privacy, and so while balancing the protection of the individual with the right of free speech."

According to the annual report, 87% of complaints related to the accuracy of newspaper articles – while 24% were about invasions of privacy by the press.

Just over half of all complaints were made about national newspapers, with 34% about regional titles, 9% about the Scottish press, 5% about magazines, and 2% about Northern Irish newspapers.

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